Zachary Bujold is released from a juvenile detention center into current day New Orleans at the age of twenty-one, after a seven year confinement for murdering his parents. His defense was deemed implausible—that Zach's twin brother, Louis, had killed their parents—especially since no family member or friend was aware of Louis's existence. Psychologists were certain that Zach suffered from a multiple personality syndrome.
Zach attempts to rebuild a life in New Orleans, and quickly becomes sexually involved with a woman. He also has an affair with his uncle's girlfriend. When someone close to him is found strangled to death, Zach must find his brother before he's arrested for murder one. A series of discoveries regarding the Bujold crime family adds to Zach's fears, and, in order to extricate himself from a murder rap, he'll have to expose family secrets that could prove to be hazardous to his health.